Supporting of Gifted Children Psychosocial Developments in Preschool Period

Year 2020, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 25 - 29, 15.06.2020

Nisa G. Kaya

Abstract

Preschool period involves critical development tasks within psychomotor, cognitive, language and psychosocial areas; therefore supporting of gifted children’s developments in preschool period is crucial. Gifted children have some differences from their peers in some traits, such as intelligence, creativity, diligence and commitment and motivation. In case of identification in early period, gifted children’s social and emotional development, and particularly their cognitive development will progress better. Due to early identification principle of special education, it is important to evaluate gifted children comprehensively according to multiple criteria. Comprehensive evaluation means evaluating children using not only standardized intelligence tests, but also children’s products, observations, rating scales, checklists, questionnaires, interviews, aptitude tests, achievement tests, awards, honors, grades, or other valid and reliable measures. Since parents and teachers of gifted young children play important roles in identification process, they should be aware of early signs of giftedness. There are some distinctive characteristics particularly in the cognitive, social and emotional domains which gifted children demonstrate in early childhood. Although some characteristics of gifted young children such as curious, persistent, divergent thinkers, highly focused on their interests, and able to make abstract connections in learning exist in the literature of giftedness, it should be kept in mind that not every gifted child will exhibit all of these traits. The unique needs of gifted preschoolers should be taken into account by parents and teachers in order to create appropriate learning environments. Teachers are under great responsibility for recognizing and identifying gifted children and then creating an efficient curriculum for them. The education given to gifted children should be boosted and enriched.

Keywords

gifted preschoolers, identification, Learning environments

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